UAH may face rebuilding next year, but good foundation is in place (Mark McCarter column)

(This is the second in a two-part look at the UAH Chargers' 2012-13 basketball season that wrapped up Tuesday night in the NCAA South Regional finals, ending their season with a 26-5 record, a 106-22 mark over the last four years. Today: The season in review -- and a season in preview.)

UAH guard Wayne Dedrick

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The unmistakable sound of a basketball hitting a wooden floor echoed through the building.

Spencer Palmer, Greg Gardner and Troy Sexton were in a shoot-rebound-pass triangle, rotating as each took his share of shots.

It was Wednesday afternoon, less than 10 hours after they arrived home from a solemn, sleepless all-night bus ride from Florida, where the UAH Chargers' season ended in heartbreak, a 90-88 loss to Florida Southern precipitated by a controversial call with 2.3 seconds remaining.

It was also, give or take a few days, 230 days until they'll play their next game.

Yet Palmer, a rising sophomore from Madison Academy, Gardner, the heir apparent to Jaime Smith at point guard, and Sexton, a former Kentucky high school superstar who redshirted this season, were working out.

"Hopefully that's what we've built our program on. Kids that are hungry, that want to be good players," coach Lennie Acuff said.

The returning players for the 2013-14 UAH Chargers have some sizable Nikes they must fill.

The senior class of Smith, Zane Campbell and Xavier Baldwin, along with walk-on Brett Wester and the since-departed Josh Magette (who didn't take a redshirt season as Smith, Campbell and Baldwin did), was part of a program that won 106 of 128 games in the past four years.

It won four Gulf South Conference titles, one GSC tournament title, two NCAA Division II South Regional championships and twice reached the Elite Eight.

As Acuff told them in a team meeting Wednesday, "There will be a time as early as next year you'll look back and be able to grasp and put into context the run you've had and just how special this has been and how fortunate we've all been to be a part of something like that, a four-year run that probably is unparalleled in our state as far as college basketball is concerned."

An hour later, Acuff was in his office, just out of earshot of the echoes in the gym, and reiterated a phrase he had used earlier in the month for his seniors.

"There are good teams and there are great teams and there are legacy teams," he said. "They had legacy careers. Not many people can say that."

Even after a long ride where there was "just a lot of emotion going around, a bunch of thinking going on," Campbell doesn't quite have the perspective on this era.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," Campbell said. "It's been a great time, a great five years. We got a lot accomplished. But it hasn't really sunk in."

It will be a substantial loss; Campbell, Smith and Baldwin combined to score more than half the team's points.

However, Wayne Dedrick, who averaged 12.5 points per game and lit up Florida Southern for 27, returns. A freshman who hadn't played for four years because he opted for a pro baseball contract after high school, he still showed signs of rust.

Ronnie Mack was, in the first half of the season, among the nation's top 3-point shooters. Conner Blasi will be back in the lineup after a season interrupted twice by injury, one that required surgery. Andy Donovan proved to be a long-range marksman. Gardner grew more and more comfortable at the point. Palmer was steady enough that he was on the floor in the final minute Tuesday night.

"We've got a chance to have a good basketball team next year," Acuff said.

"We're going to miss our seniors but I'm encouraged about what we have coming back. I'm excited about our team for next year. We're obviously going to be very young and very inexperienced but I wouldn't sleep on us too much. It'll be a rebuilding year but I think we'll have a chance to have a really good team."

Apprised by a visitor of the threesome who were shooting in the gym, Acuff managed what was a rare smile on this day.